Three Days
by Padfoot the epic GLOWSTICK
Summary: Canada appeared three days before America. He had three days without his obnoxious brother to steal all the attention of France and England. He had three days to be his own person, not half of the North American brothers. Let's see what he does with it. Happy Canada Day! Oh, and this is in no way historically accurate, so sorry.
1. Day One

Day One:

Francis strode down the ramp connecting his ship to the damp earth below. His boots left footprints, the first European footprints to have ever touched that spot.

"This is it!" He called up to the others who were still on the ship. "This is where I want the flag to be!"

Two young men carried a large French flag off of the boat and handed it to Francis. He picked it up, lifted it high above the ground, and stuck it firmly into the dirt. "I now declare this land to be an official French colony."

Many cheering voices erupted from the boat as a response to this statement. They drifted along on the cool wind, eventually reaching the ears of a small boy and his bear.

Mathew Williams was not sure where he had come from, nor where he was, or how he had gotten there. Prior to a few seconds before these thought occurred to him, he had been unaware of his own existence. Now he was suddenly awake, knowing nothing but that someone once had called him Mathew. No, not Mathew. Something else. But what?

"Who are you?" A small voice asked from close by.

Mathew looked down to see a white bear cub resting against his leg. Somehow, a new word appeared on the tip of his tongue, as if pulled from somewhere deep within his mind. "I'm Canada," he said, surprising himself with how certain he sounded, as of there was no doubt in his mind that 'Canada' was what he should be called. "I'm Canada!" His mouth broke into a huge smile. Suddenly, everything felt familiar. The trees, the rocks, the birds, it was as if the land itself was a part of him.

Mathew hesitated. One thing seemed wrong. Somewhere, far past where he could see, there was something unfamiliar. It felt strange to him, but at the same time Mathew couldn't help but feel drawn towards it. "Follow me," he whispered to the bear, somehow knowing that they were to stay together. "I think we need to find the feeling."

If the bear had any question as to what the boy meant, he did nothing to show it. He just stood up and followed Mathew as the child walked towards the shore.

* * *

"I think we should set up here next to the flag, so that Angleterre will easily see us when he arrives," Francis watched his crew unload from the edge of the forest. "Don't you agree, Claude?"

"Yes, I quite agree," Claude, Francis' newly assigned assistant, said quickly. "It will hopefully deter him from trying to colonise in this area as well." Claude tries to make it sound as if he knew what he was talking about, but in reality he knew little more of how colonisation worked than most small children.

The quiet and peaceful atmosphere was abruptly taken from the area by the sound of crunching leaves and sticks. Both Claude and Francis took a large step back, expecting the worst. After all, this was unexplored land; who knew what could be lurking in these woods.

However, their fears were proved to be unnecessary when a small child and a bear cub were revealed to be the source of the noise.

"What is this?" Francis asked, staring at the pair with a mixture of surprise and curiosity.

"Um, I believe it is a child, sir."

Francis gave Claude an exasperated look. "Yes, I realise it is a child. What I mean is what is it doing here?"

He bent down on his knees so that he was level with the child. "Hello, mon cher. What are you doing out here on your own?"

The boy looked up and Francis found himself staring into a pair of the most innocent looking purple eyes he had ever seen. "I'm Canada."

* * *

 **Hey everyone! I decided that this year I'm doing something for Canada Day and Independence Day. It will be a four chapter story following the idea that America and Canada's birthdays are on their countries respective holiday. This one would be longer, but it's 6 am and I need to sleep.**

 **Oh, and Claude is an OC. He won't kill you, I swear, I just needed someone to be France's assistant.**

 **Have a lovely day everyone and please leave a review if there is anything you like or that I need to improve on!**

 **-GS**


	2. Day Two

Francis handed the child a plate. The boy rubbed his eyes sleepily, but gave him a smile nonetheless. It had been getting late when Francis had found the child wandering around on his own, so he had decided to wait until the next morning before trying to find out who he was. Francis had given the boy one of the spare cabins in the lower part of the ship. It wasn't ideal for anyone, but Francis had been insistent that the boy have his own room.

"He almost looks as if he could be your child," Claude had commented once Francis had closed the door to the boy's room. "You both have similar facial features."

Francis had passed the comment off as Claude being delusional, but looking at the child in daylight, he could easily see where Claude had gotten the idea. The boy could have passed as Francis' brother. Perhaps...Francis hesitated, not wanting to get his hopes up for fear of being let down. But there was the slightest chance that the boy could have been like him. A country.

"You said your name was Canada, correct?" Francis asked.

Purple eyes peeked at him from beneath blond hair as the boy nodded. "Canada is my name. But I like Mathew too."

"My name is France, but you can call me Francis."

The boy responded to this much as he had to every other time someone had tried to communicate with him: a long stare and perhaps, if they were lucky, some kind of physical reaction acknowledging that Mathew had at least understood what they said.

In general, Mathew's social skills seemed to be lacking. He rarely spoke to anyone besides his bear, to which he could spend hours to talking about absolutely nothing. Francis found it to be extraordinarily interesting to watch, but the rest of his men only seemed to be annoyed by it. They had come all this way only to have their progress halted by an uncooperative child.

"Do you have any idea where you may have come from?" Francis tried again. "If you have a family, we want to get you back to them as soon as possible."

Mathew tilted his head to the side. "I don't have a family. I just woke up. Yesterday. I was in the woods."

Francis tried hard to conceal the smile that threatened to take over his face. He was almost positive this child was like him. "Mathew, I believe that you are the human representation of this land. That means that you are connected to this place and that it is a part of you. Do you think that could be true?"

"It is," Mathew said simply. "I know it is," A small smile crept onto his features. "Are you one too?"

"Oui," Francis confirmed. "And there are many others. With in the next few days, another country England should be arriving. He hopes to claim some of the southern land."

Mathew nodded, feeling as if he knew exactly what land Francis was speaking off. He could feel it up against his land as clearly as if it was pressing against his body physically. It seemed so normal, as if it had been their for centuries even though a Mathew had only woke a day before.

There were a few minuets of silence between the two, that was eventually broken by Mathew. "Do you think Kumajirou could have some food?" He asked the Frenchman, slowly petting his bear's ears.

"Is that your bear's name?" Francis asked, reaching for one of the (relatively) clean plates.

Mathew nodded. "He says he's hungry."

Francis added some food to the plate and placed it in front of the bear. Mathew had been fairly insistent that Kumajirou get his own seat and Francis just hadn't had the heart to say otherwise.

The bear leaned his head closer to Mathew's, and the boy tilted his head on as well as if listening. "He says thank you," Mathew said once the bear had pulled away and began eating his own food.

Francis laughed softly. This really was an interesting child.

* * *

Francis shivered, pulling his thin coat tighter around him. When Antonio had spoken of his trip to the new world, he had said it was warm. Prehapse they had different standards of what was warm, but by Francis', Canada's weather was something fully deserving of the phrase 'too damn cold'.

"Are you sure you're alright, Mathew?" Francis asked the young boy. They were both standing by the shore if a beautiful lake, Mathew up to about his ankles in the water. "You're not too cold?"

"It's warm out," Mathew replied, the look he have Francis clearly saying TJAT he felt that he was stating the obvious.

"Well excuse me for not finding this awful climate to be enjoyable," Francis huffed.

Mathew giggled, claiming out of the water. "If you're cold we can go back. I don't mind."

"Are you sure?" While Francis was eager to get out of the cold, he didn't want to be between the boy and his fun. As a country, they had such a short time of true innocence and he didn't want to take away any of that from Mathew.

Mathew nodded. "Isn't it going to be getting late soon anyway? You said we need to get back before dark."

Francis smiled, ruffling the boy's hair. "Aren't you smart? As soon as I get the chance, I'm going to teach you to speak French."

"Is that the language that you speak sometime?" Mathew asked as they started to walk back in the direction of the ship.

"It is," Francis confirmed. "It is the language of my homeland."

"It always sound nice when you speak it," Mathew said, latching onto Francis' hand. "I hope it sounds as pretty when I do."

"It will sound even prettier," Francis promised. The look of complete happiness he received assured it. He would do anything he could to let this child keep his innocence.

* * *

 **I am so sorry for updating this at such a late time. I normally try to get everythingwritten a day ahead, but I fell asleep early last night then was at my friend's house all day. The next two chapters should be on time though. :)**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Thank you so so much to everyone who reviewed/read/followed/favorited. Every time I say an email in my inbox I started smiling like an idiot. I'm pretty sure I scared at least on person.**

 **I hope everyone had a lovely Thursday!**

 **-GS**


	3. Day Three

Captain Arthur Kirkland prided himself in being able to make very wise decisions when it came to managing his position as both captain of his ship and the personification if his country. One of such being the decision to prioritise being infinitely better than Francis Bonnefoy above everything else. Whether if be in politics or architecture or simply whose shoes could withstand more, Arthur had to be better. After all, what kind of captain would he be if he couldn't be superior to his archenemy?

As soon as he heard that Francis was out to claim the northern part of North America as his own, Arthur set out to take the southern part. Getting his crew ready to go in about six hours (he later found out this was a new record), Arthur set out to arrive in North America no more than a few days after Francis. Hopefully, the bloody frog wouldn't have taken the whole damn continent for himself. Knowing Francis, it was certainly possible. He took their rivaly just as seriously as Arthur.

Arthur stood up, pushing his chair in. All this thinking about Francis was building up a lot of anger. He needed to go yell at someone. Preferably his idiot of a cook who couldn't make edible food to save his life.

Francis gave Jean, the man who had been kicked out of his room to make room for Mathew, a dirty look. "No, I will not give your room back. You have plenty of space rooming with Claude. For God's sake, you have more space than most of the people on this ship."

"It's not the space," Jean tried to explain. "It's the principal of the matter. The way this entire ship functions has been thrown off balance because of this kid."

Francis walked towards Jean until he was directly infront of the man. Jean was quite a but taller, but that didn't worry Francis at all. He knew that every member of his crew found him to be intimidating and wouldn't dare try to mess with him or Mathew. "Do you have any idea how easy it would be for me to find someone to place you? I could kick you off of this ship right now and have Claude take over your duties. That is how insignificant you are. Don't. Make. Me. Angry."

"I-I would be happy to allow Mathew to continue using my room," Jean managed to choke out.

"I think that would be wise," Francis took a step back, a smirk forming on his lips. "Now I advise you return to your duties and do your best to avoid causing any further...conflict."

Jean muttered a response ("Y-yes, of course sir,"), before practically running out of the room.

Francis sighed, collapsing into a chair. "Claude, how did I end up hiring so many complete fools?"

"I don't know, sir," Claude said from the corner he had been standing in for the entire exchange between the two other men. "Perhaps they used some means to trick you."

"...Claude?"

"Yes?"

"You are an idiot."

* * *

"Good morning, Francis!" Mathew said happily, walking into Francis' small room.

"Bonjour, Mathew," Francis said, giving the small boy a smile. "Have you had breakfast yet today?"

Mathew shook his head. "I was wondering if you could have it with me..?"

I don't have a lot of time..." Francis started. Mathew's face fell, and Francis imidiatly felt guilty. Mathew didn't have anyone else on the boat- with the exception of Kumajirou, of course- to keep him company. Until they could find a friend for the boy, Francis would need to make time to spend with him. "I suppose if we're fast I can join you."

"Thank you Francis!" Mathew said ecstatically. He grabbed the hand of the older man and practically pulled him out of the room and off towards the kitchen.

Francis chuckled, following along. He really did love seeing Mathew so happy, and even more, he loved being the cause of that happiness.

When they got to the kitchen, they found Kumajirou already there. Apparently, he had been unable to find Mathew and decided to go off in search of food instead. Because, obviously, food prioritised over human friends anyway.

Francis found that to be a but cruel, but Mathew seemed to think nothing of it. In fact, the boy seemed to find the bears statement to be most amusing.

He must have really been getting old, Francis mused. He had absolutely no understanding of the things the young found to be fun and amusing. He had noticed the same thing with some of the youths back in France. You would have thought, being the literal representation of the French population, that he would have grown up with them. Apparently, that was not the case.

"What are these?" Mathew asked, pulling Francis out of his thoughts.

Francis looked over and saw that he was referring to the meal on his plate. "Those are called pancakes. And the covering is some kind of syrup."

"I like it," Mathew decided. "The syrup is sweet."

Francis smiled, remembering something. "Mathew, would you still like to learn to speak French?"

The boy's eyes lit up. "You'll really teach me?"

"Of course," Francis replied. "If you're going to be coming back home with me you're going to have to be able to speak it well."

Francis didn't even think about what he had promised. In that moment, everything seemed so perfect that he didn't want to think about what could possibly happen to ruin his plans. It had been ages since he had been personally involved in a new colony and he had forgotten how much he missed it.

* * *

"You did very well, Mathew," Francis praised the young oh after finishing their first French lesson. "I don't think I've ever heard anyone pick up on the language so quickly."

"Merci," Mathew said, trying out the feel of the new words. "It was very...agréble?"

"agréable," Francis corrected, smiling. "I'm happy you enjoyed it."

"May I please go outside?" Mathew asked, looking out the small window to where the sun was shining brightly.

"Of course," Francis said. "If I get down with my work in time, I'll join you."

"Bye, père!" Mathew said excitedly, placing his plate in a bucket of soapy water before running out the door.

Francis felt his heart fill with warmth. The boy had called him dad.

* * *

It was dark out when Arthur Kirkland's ship finally reached the shores of North America. The weather had been absolutely horrific for the last about four hours of the trip. It was a miracle that the ship hasn't sank. And that nobody had been shoved overboard by the captain himself.

"This should be far enough south that Francis hasn't already claimed it..." Arthur said to himself, looking around at the wooded area and jagged seaside. He then raised his voice loud enough to be heard by the rest of his ship's crew. "Tie her down! This is where we're staying."

* * *

 **1200 words exactly! That's kind of perfect.**

 **So the alt rock station where I live plays really good music from about two am to six am. I've been listening to it between those times for the past few days and its been great. They just played Ocean Avenue. I haven't heard that song in at least a year.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! England is here and Alfred finally makes and appearance in the next one, so that should be interesting.**

 **I've got to go be social in a few hours, so wish me luck with that.**

 **Have a GREAT Friday!**

 **-GS**


	4. Chapter 4

Mathew was reluctant to admit it, but he actually enjoyed being the centre of Francis' attention. The man had put Claude on charge and took the day off to spend with Mathew. Right after breakfast, they had left the ship to go explore.

In the few days since Francis and his men had arrived in Canada, they had made a great deal of progress. A few small buildings were starting to pop up and there was already talk of building a more permanent dock for Francis' boat.

"Père?" Mathew said hesitantly, looking out at the ocean. "What is that?"

Francis squinted, looking in the direction Mathew had pointed. "I believe that is another ship," He smiled fondly at the young boy. "Don't worry over it. If that is he boat I think it is, you may soon be meeting an, um, aquatiance of mine."

Mathew nodded, before his attention was grabbed by the small shape of Kumajirou on the edge of the trees. "Look, there's Kuma!" He ran off towards the bear, Francis following closely behind.

* * *

It wasn't until late that evening when the boat Mathew had seen finally made it to the shore. The boy had seen it land from the window of his room on Francis' ship.

He and the European had stayed out until late on the afternoon, when it had started to lightly rain. Although the abundance of bad weather cut their day short, they had still managed to have plenty of fun. After rejoining Kumajirou, Francis and Mathew had continued to observe the progress made in the buildings, before eventually stopping for lunch. Francis had brought a small basket of food with him which they ate in the shade of the trees.

A few minuets after the ship had docked, Mathew heard an unfamiliar voice from outside his door. By that time he had been introduced to everyone on the ship, so he figured that the voice must have been the voice of someone from the new ship.

It seemed that his curiosity was soon to be cured, as soon after first hearing the voice someone knocked on the young boy's door. "Mathew, I have someone I would like you to meet," Francis said through the door. "Can you please come out?"

Mathew opened the door and cautiously peaked out. It seemed that rather than there being one new person aboard the ship as he had previously believed, there was two.

The older of the two was a man slightly shorter than Francis, with unruly blond hair and angry green eyes. The younger looked to be about the same age as Mathew. In fact, Mathew thought that he and this new boy looked remarkably similar. The only notable difference was their eyes. Mathew's were a deep violet and this boy's were sky blue.

"Mathew, this is Arthur," Francis said, gesturing to the older man. " And this is Alfred."

"Hello," Arthur greeted Mathew, obviously trying to smile, but only succeeding in looking constipated. "You're Canada, correct?"

Mathew nodded, already gaining a slight dislike for Arthur. Francis had mentioned him a few times, saying all he cared about was gaining more land for himself.

"I'm America!" Alfred said, grinning broadly. "So we're sorta neighbours!"

"Sort of, not 'sorta'," Mathew heard Arthur mutter under his breath, but Alfred didn't seem to hear and if he had, it clearly didn't bother him.

Mathew slipped his hand into Francis', already ready to be done with these strange people and expecting Francis to ask them to leave. However, Francis didn't seem to feel the same way to their guests. In fact, he invited them to stay for dinner.

* * *

Mathew tried to enjoy the meal. He really did. But he didn't like how Francis was paying absolutely no attention to him. All of his attention seemed to be on Arthur and Alfred.

It wasn't as if Mathew didn't understand being interested in the pair; he was as well. They were just so strange that they seemed to command attention.

What he really didn't like was everyone acting as of he was invisible. He probably could have shoved his face in his food and proceeded to stand on his chair screaming with out anyone noticing.

Nevertheless, he managed to make it through the meal without engaging in any questionable activities. And just when he thought things would finally start to go well, Francis decided it would be a great idea just to leave him alone with Alfred.

* * *

Mathew felt betrayed. Completely betrayed. How could Francis, the man who had found him and took him in, just abandon him? And with the strange child of his enemy, no less.

"Are you just gonna sit there?" Alfred asked, looking at Mathew with curious blue eyes. He didn't seem bothered by the situation. When Mathew gave no answer, he tried again. "C'mon Mathew, just talk to me."

Mathew gave his southern neighbour a cold look. "It's Canada, not Mathew."

"Père?"

"Hmm?"

"You won't ever forget about me, will you?"

Francis looked down at Mathew as he tucked the child into bed. "How could I possibly forget about you?"

"I don't know," Mathew said quietly. "You just could."

"I could never forget about you, mon cher," Francis placed a soft kiss on the boy's forehead. "Goodnight, Mathew."

A smile graced Mathew's lips. "Good night, Père."

* * *

 **Ugh, I don't even want to know how late this is. I'm not even going to bother with coming up with an excuse. This should have been done weeks ago.**

 **Anywaaaay, what's new? I dyed my hair. It's redish purple now. But nobody cares, do they?**

 **I'm going to add an extra chapter to this, but I don't know for sure when yet. I'll be in PA over the weekend, but I have a Death Note/ Hetalia cross over I'm planning to upload tomorrow. Then I've got a USUK oneshot that's almost done and two more DN one shots I'm planning.**

 **Thanks for reading and please reveiw! (They make me feel guilty and as a result I update faster.)**

 **-GS**


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